Anti-Mobbing Help for Scientists

Say NO to Academic Mobbing &
Stalking and Scientific Misconduct!

Introduction

Academic mobbing
over a number of months or even years is the most prominent type of bullying in academia and a
well-studied research subject in psychology and medicine.
It is frequent cause of psychological or physical violence conducted by a group of colleagues
or by an individual such as the boss. A brief two-page introduction and definition is given below.

Mobbing & bullying
(and stalking)
are directed against the victim with a conscious desire to hurt, threaten, or frighten.
This puts the victim under immense stress and causes serious illnesses,
which might eventually result in work incapacity and even in death (suicide). Since the occurrence of workplace
mobbing has been shown to be primarily an important employer’s problem,
it already forms explicit part of worker protection laws and
criminal law
in many countries worldwide (e.g. Austria (particularly cyber-mobbing),
Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Ireland, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands, Canada, and
USA).

Mobbing as "downward bullying" by superiors is also known as "bossing"
and "upward bullying" by colleagues as "staffing" in some European countries.
(Note that the terms "mobbing" and "bullying" are used synonymously in English.)

Mobbing at academic institutions and universities including
medical clinics is known as being more subtle than usual
and might even go beyond the particular organization, giving rise to a national and international level of bullying
by colleagues.
Workplace mobbing also involves an enormous waste of talent, time and money,
which
would be preventable by structural improvements in organizations.

A number of mobbing indicators and questionnaires are
available to determine the presence and extent of bullying, see below.
For instance, mobbing victims may be the target of unwanted physical contact, violence, obscene or loud language
during meetings, be disparaged among their colleagues in venues they are not aware of, confronted with undue demands
for compliance with regulations, excluded from relevant meetings, research and work tasks, and face difficulties with promotion and tenure.

The organizational structure of academic institutions often make it hard for victims to
seek help internally, and appeals to external authorities can be surprisingly
counterproductive. Therefore, academics who are subject to bullying are often overly cautious about reporting any problems and asking for mitigation
instead of contacting colleagues, other victims, mobbing helplines, antidiscrimination bodies,
lawyers, and medical psychologists.